If I have 64-bit chrome open with around 6 tabs PA refuses to run(I am referring to the actual game not the menu). Now in the error log it keeps saying the game is crashing because it is out of memory, but when it crashes only 70% or so of my total system ram is being used. PA taking up close to 3GB, chrome around 1-2GB, and everything else taking around 1GB. I have never had memory issues before on this machine and was curious what you guys might think. Does this game really need 16GB+ of ram to run correctly?
For all default systems 3-6GB is enough as well as for multiplayer games because most of other players also have about 8GB. If you want to keep other software running when play PA then you'll need to have more RAM. Or just decrease your page file / virtual memory size to 12GB.
Well my page file is currently 2GB since I am running an ssd and wanted to keep it small. Would increasing it fix this issue?
According to DxDiag.txt you also have 1TB HDD and it's would be perfect place for page file while you can completely disable it on SSD. Yes, 2GB page file it's what likely cause your crash.
I just dont understand why it is my page file, considering that should just be for when you use more than your allotted ram, which I has never happened while running PA. Does the game actually use the page file to cache and run, because I have used a variety of programs (photoshop, premiere, blender, after effects, prime95) that can use more ram than PA at once and do not exhibit this kind of behavior. They run fine with chrome open too.
Figured I would update and say that increasing my page file size to system managed (which set it to 8GB) did fix my issue. Honestly though there is no reason why this game should be using a systems page file in order to properly run.
Actually it's not even the game using the page file. It's Windows deciding what it swaps out, and it will usually start with stuff which isn't required for the game to run. Like browsers, chat programs, Steam and other clutter which happens to run in the background. Oh, and some memory used by Windows itself can also be freed this way. It only comes at the cost of having to swap that stuff back in when it is needed again, but that's another story. Issue is mostly that there are still some peaks in memory usage by PA, one is during planet generation, and one is when the ingame UI is building up for the first time. At this moment, PA alone (including the Coherent processes) can peak out at up to 5-6GB. (Up to 4.5GB for PA, and up to 1.5GB for Coherent.)
Like I said in my original post, my memory usage never exceeded the 70% of my total ram. PA.exe using 2.8GB and Coherent peaking at 700MB while loading my test map (4 planets). The game refuses to even load if I disable the page file, and that is with me closing everything besides steam and having around 6.5GB of free memory. The game has some very strange interactions with the page file.
Coherent use 1.4-1.6GB on Windows when you in live game. It's doesn't change if you didn't modify how game works.
Then I must have not added up all 32 processes. Still does not change the fact that the game refuses to load/loads incorrectly without a page file, even if I have 6.5GB of free memory and the game is only trying to use 4.5GB on my test map.
As @exterminans and @cola_colin noticed game don't use page file. Game actually don't even have idea if page file exists at all: it's just allocate memory. Reality is: Microsoft designed Windows to use page file and using non-standard settings or disabling it will result in issues with your OS. It's like remove some important part from the car where it's might continue to move fine, but might no longer able to stop. PS: Sorry guys I probably should stop using tagging now because it's trigger actual notification.
